The Linux File System
It is helpful to have an idea of the Linux file system structure to navigate the terminal effectively. The Linux file system is a hierarchical structure that starts from the root directory /. Here are some key directories in the Linux file system:
/: The root directory of the file system./bin: Contains essential binaries (programs) that are required for the system to boot and run. On modern distros (e.g. Ubuntu) this is a symlink to/usr/bin(merged-usr)./boot: Contains the Linux kernel and boot loader configuration files./dev: Contains device files that represent hardware devices connected to the system./etc: Contains system-wide configuration files./home: Contains user home directories (Linux). Note: MacOS uses/Users/usernameinstead./lib: Contains shared libraries that are required for programs to run. On modern distros this is a symlink to/usr/lib./media: Contains mount points for removable media such as USB drives./mnt: Contains mount points for temporary file systems. On Azure Linux VMs, attached data disks are commonly mounted under/mntor/datadisks./opt: Contains optional software packages./proc: Contains information about system processes./root: The home directory for the root user./run: Contains system runtime data./sbin: Contains essential system binaries. On modern distros this is a symlink to/usr/sbin./srv: Contains data for services provided by the system./sys: Contains information about the system hardware./tmp: Contains temporary files./usr: Contains user binaries, libraries, and documentation./var: Contains variable data such as logs and spool files.
The most commonly used directories are /home, /usr, and /var. On your Windows laptop these do not apply — use e.g. C:\Users\username — but every Azure Linux VM you provision later uses this layout.
When building containers, it is common to use the /app directory to store application code and assets. This directory is not a standard Linux directory but is often used in containerized applications for consistency.